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New Suspension Option Improves Passenger Ride
http://ride.californiasidecar.com/ne...assenger-ride/
What is a Passenger Comfort ARB?
ARB is an acronym for Anti Roll Bar (a.k.a. sway bar). The only function of an ARB is to limit the amount of roll or lean in a 3 (or more) wheeled vehicle when cornering. It does this by mechanically connecting the left and right side wheels together.
For example, when a vehicle goes around a left hand turn the right wheel is pushed up into the chassis due to the chassis trying to lean to the right. The ARB forces the left side wheel to move up as well. Since the weight of the vehicle generally will not let the left side wheel lift into the air, the result is that the left side of the vehicle stays down thus keeping the vehicle more level.
Like most mechanical things there has to be a compromise. In this case it is the stiffness of the ARB or the amount that you want to tie the two wheels together. This stiffness is determined purely by the diameter of the bar if all other variables are equal. The choice is then between flat stable handling vs. passenger comfort.
If taken to the extreme of an infinitely stiff ARB (i.e: swing arm rear suspension like all non IRS trikes) the vehicle will have almost no lean in a corner. Since the wheels are forced to move together at all times, when one wheel encounters a bump in the road both wheels have to react. The bump-force from one wheel has to be transferred through the chassis to the other wheel. This creates a much more drastic chassis event that the rider and passenger both feel. With a trike, the effect is to pitch the trike from one side to the other.
Now consider the opposite scenario, there is no ARB (infinitely soft) and both wheels are allowed to move completely independently of each other. This gives the most comfortable ride since each wheel is allowed to react to bumps in the road completely on its own; thus never affecting any other part of the chassis. This creates a minor chassis event and sometimes is not even noticed by the passengers. The downside to this is that when taking a corner, the trike will lean over to the outside of the corner and the rider will feel like he is out of control. The passenger will feel like they are going to fall off, and the rider will be forced to finish the corner at a much slower pace because the vehicle will be unstable and imprecise.
Knowing this, we understand that the choice of ARB stiffness is always a compromise between a harsher ride with great cornering control vs ride comfort.
Now YOU can decide.
Originally Posted by California Sidecar
